23rd March - Day 70. Dinner in our very nice old hotel, had a job to get to grips with the menu but settled on the set menu, plat du Jour. I had hot Camembert, Tony and dad had ham, egg and cheese omelette souffle, I got the short straw, only 2 souffle's left! Steak and pasta for me, steak and chips for Tony and Veal pot roast type of thing for dad. Our steaks cooked perfectly but dads veal had a fan...tastic taste and was by far the best! Tony and I were quite pleased dad could not eat all of his meal! A tart for desert and all good. Tony experienced some of dads long term memory, in great detail, "during the war" was mentioned on more than one occasion! Anyway Tony and Dad went for a walk after to encourage the dinner to go down before bed, I went upstairs to rest and find something more to eat! All back in the room, dad in bed and asleep in minutes, me and Tony had a chat for a while about our different lives over the past 10 weeks, quick massage to my calf's and Voltorole, did not get time to treat legs properly today! In bed and asleep by 11:20. End of a good day. Up at 6:30 after hitting snooze a few times, got legs going, kitted up and outside by 7am. Quick few photos and we set off. Fantastic clear but cold morning, we ran to the water front first, not a lot, very industrial, headed north, then west up the high street and in front of the big Castle Fort and out of the Village. We found a cycle path between the houses and ventured down. It took us North West of the town and into miles of Vineyards and beautiful Chateau's. The sun rose over the vineyard, the air was still cold but the feeling you get is so warm. A few pictures taken and more kilometres covered than we planned, we headed back. Whilst running back down the path between the houses we found a very long dead worm! Quick photo, I think it may already be on the site, and on we went back to the town. We returned to the town through the Castle Fort, it looks like it has plenty of history and seen some action! We are here for another day so will find out more of its history and run through all of it tomorrow. Anyway back to the Hotel, very enjoyable but slow 9.36k in 1hr and 5 minutes. Quick shower and down for breakfast. Success on the porridge, Tetley Tea, very good breakfast, I ate anything that anyone left so very full and satisfied, Tony was concerned at eating at all before a run! Back home we would not eat anything until after! As we are staying 2 nights time is not as much of an issue today. Back to the room at 9:15, sorted out the route for today, drive to Bordeaux and run back to Blaye. Tony has never run further than 10k but today intends to run the first half with me! All ready and in the van by 11:30, drive to Bordeaux was lovely, rolling countryside, vineyards, Chateaux's and little villages. Tony mentioned on a few occasions that it seemed a very long way! Our start point was just south of a place called Ambares, North East of Bordeaux. We set off after a quick video in the now midday hot sun! After my quick first 2k to get my legs working we settled down to a nice steady pace. It was good to have a chat as the kilometres passed. The route was very special, the tree lined roads with very little view of the last few days, had been replaced with views over the rolling hills, vineyards and the sea. We passed 10k and Tony was doing fine, at 14k we approached a long slow hill that hit Tony hard! I stayed with Tony and we battled through, with the now very hot sun, 26 degrees, beating down. At 18k Tony was struggling but kept focused on getting to halfway. A very tough and very hot first ever Half Marathon completed in 2'20", very well done Tony. A quick loo break, and a bit of Voltarol applied and I set off for the 2nd half. Unfortunately for Tony the 2nd half was much flatter! I got into a rhythm, found a nice little pace and bobbed along. It felt hotter than all the other days, the sweat was dripping into my eyes constantly and I felt quite drained. The route was very pleasant and the 2nd half passed seemingly quick. I finished marathon 66, 5k North of Blaye in the middle of nowhere in a time of 4'15'24. Very pleasing but knees and right hip played up over the latter stages. All good, quick orange and a chat with Tony, who was not moving too well, about how he felt." After I threw up I felt quite good apart from my back, thighs, calf's and knees" he said! Well done Tony, over 30k in one day, very good and I look forward to a similar performance tomorrow! Quick change, in the van and back to Blaye for coffee. Found a great cafe looking up to the castle and over the sea. We sat in the sun and enjoyed the moment. We started talking about the run in to London and the need for more exposure. It was a shame the Mail could not fit us in on the 50th marathon day but I appreciate their efforts and do understand nothing is guaranteed. We do however need to get more exposure to raise the much needed minimum target of £100k. The more people who read this and can tell people to tell people, and hopefully soon we get Press and possibly a little TV coverage, our target could be possible. It, so far, has been very tough, but very rewarding personally. It would be a shame to not raise the target funds, I understand money is tighter for everyone in the current climate but to encourage more people to put themselves out to raise money for charity like we are, I would like to get close. Thank you for all your re tweets, Facebook coverage and word of mouth encouragement. Anything anyone can do would certainly help. Off my soapbox and on with the day. A nice 45 minutes relaxing in the sun and enjoying the coffee and it was time to get going. First we needed ice for my legs and plenty of water to drink. We found water easy but nowhere sold ice! Back to the hotel, quick change and out to dinner. We spotted a nice looking Pizzeria earlier and headed there. The walk to the restaurant was very pleasant, it was a lovely and warm, summer like evening, we found the restaurant and had a very nice starter and ok main course. Tony had the pleasure of a few more of dads stories which I had not heard before, that kept us amused. All very tired we returned to the hotel. Tony and dad are now both fast asleep and I am about to start the washing routine! A very good day in France!